OK Etiquetteer:
You have said in the past that we need to get rid of ambiguous dress codes, but the invitation to your own party next month has a dress code of “Period attire encouraged but not required.” Now just WHAT does that mean, for a party celebrating the end of Prohibition? I may not care what I’m wearing after the second drink, but I’d rather arrive at the party completely comfortable. So . . . spell it out, please: what should I wear, and what should I avoid?
Dear Drinking:
Well, you certainly are hoisting Etiquetteer on his own petard! Let’s solve this problem.
The Prohibition-era stereotype always seems to be dark pinstriped double-breasted suits with neckties, fedoras, and machine guns in violin cases for men*, and the classic flapper getup for women: sleeveless drop-waisted dresses with hem just above the knee, fringe, “headache band” around the head, perhaps with a feather; long strings of beads down past the navel, garters around the thighs (possibly with a small flask stuck in one) and silk stockings rolled to just below the knee**. If you look at the Broadway Ballet in Singin’ in the Rain, that’s it in a nutshell.
That film, of course, was made 20-odd years after Repeal, a brightly-colored affectionate picture of the Roaring Twenties. The actual experience, though, was grittier, and you’ll find more authentic ideas in art of the period. Etiquetteer is specially fond of Paul Cadmus’s painting Greenwich Village Cafeteria of 1934, the year after Repeal. The men all seem to have lapels, whether jackets or trenchcoats or suit coats. Waistlines are high and trousers are cuffed. Shoes are two-toned, and one man is even wearing spats. There’s a snap-brim cap, and one man’s fedora is bright green. And would you just look at the man at the far left . . . wearing an earring! (Slave bangles were popular accessories for both sexes during this period, too.)
By this time, women’s fashion had brought back the long gown for evening and lowered hemlines to midcalf for day wear. Women wore hats and stockings (rolled all the way up, not left at the knee) and ankle-strap shoes with what look like two-inch hourglass heels.
Now it does look interesting here to see a mix of day and evening clothes, and that’s a thing that happened more then than now because a certain class of society dressed in evening clothes in the evening whatever they were doing. This is where the term “slumming” came from, and very especially describes Midtown Manhattanites going to Harlem***.
So what does that mean you’re likely to see at Etiquetteer’s Eighth Annual Repeal Day Celebration at the Gibson House? This being New England in winter, a bit of everything - which makes it perfect for a speakeasy! There may be a black tie or two, and a dark suit, and a couple flapper dresses - some “deft and tasteful suggestions,” to quote the late Ignatius J. Reilly - but there will also be down vests, flannel shirts, and some black turtleneck sweaters sparkling with holiday bling. Etiquetteer rather hopes some group will come as the cast of Baby Face starring Barbara Stanwyck . . . but without the exploding still.
Etiquetteer hopes you’ll be able to join this festive occasion!
*When cornered in their bedrooms by the cops or a rival mob, they always seem to be wearing fedoras with “wife beater” undershirts, voluminous yoke-front boxer shorts, and knee socks with garters. If you really don’t care what you’re wearing after your second drink, consider this.
**Etiquetteer immediately remembered the lyric “I’m gonna rouge my knees and roll my stockin’s down” from the musical Chicago.
***In the 21st century, the most visible example of slumming is bachelorette parties held in gay bars.